Cold gas, i.e., gas having a temperature in between ambient and liquid cryogen temperature, has long been useful in industrial applications involving the cooling of product or equipment. Processes for its generation lend themselves to ancillary tecnhiques for dehumidification and the removal of impurities, and have been found useful in the cooling and precipitation hardening of honeycomb panels for airplanes, brazing, cooling powder metals, and condensing vapors.
The known processes for cold gas generation, unfortunately, require relatively large or more pieces of apparatus, operator intervention, and/or process monitoring control systems. Mechanical refrigeration, on the other hand, is expensive, does not lend itself to intermittent operation, is less simple to maintain and operate, and is not as reliable.